This Ted Talk was part of TED YYC in Calgary and only recently was posted to the TED channel. Most powerful is Ben Cameron‘s clear and accurate argument about how the internet has permanently shifted the means of production into the hands of artists. This cannot be undone and will have a profound effect on the development of the performing arts into the future. Whether or not you buy into every idea expressed in this talk, certainly the shift to an interactive culture with fewer gatekeepers as access to resources is democratized seems to be the future, and this is one of the first attempts to address what that means to the performing arts.

This animated video was created by artist David Shrigley in response to anticipated cuts to arts and culture in Britain by its newly elected coalition government led by Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron.  Of particular interest to Canadians is the video’s attempt to address rural and urban sensibilities about the meaning and utility of art, a paradigm which also defines our cultural politics. Certainly the video makes an intellectual argument for why arts and culture are important to fund and preserve, but its sense of humour and watchability make it the type of clip that already has almost 30,000 hits.